


7 Days of Madness

by Alaena_F_Dragonstar



Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Fluff, Holidays, Humor, M/M, Post-Conan Kudou Shinichi, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Romance, Vacation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:49:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28133463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alaena_F_Dragonstar/pseuds/Alaena_F_Dragonstar
Summary: The detectives can't go anywhere without a crime happening, and their friends are sick of it. So, for the duration of the holidays, they've come up with a solution.  Because Kaito has all the good luck and everyone knows it. KaiShin
Relationships: Kudou Shinichi | Edogawa Conan/Kuroba Kaito | Kaitou Kid
Comments: 8
Kudos: 171





	1. Day 1: The First Mistake

**Author's Note:**

> I always thought I had already posted this story here, but I discovered that I hadn't. So now here it is!
> 
> The complete fic can already up on FF.Net [here](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6754054/1/7-Days-of-Madness).

"This is a stupid idea," Hattori Heiji complained loudly from the front passenger seat of the car. To his right, the driver snorted.

"For once, I agree with you."

"Then why don't you just turn this damn car around?" the Oasakan detective demanded.

Hakuba Saguru let out a resigned sigh. "Because we already agreed."

"Yeah, under duress."

"Regardless."

"Will you two stop already?" Kudo Shinichi asked from the car's back seat, sounding both tired and thoroughly exasperated. "You've been over this same conversation twenty three times already."

"It's mostly your fault we're here Kudo," Hattori pointed out, casting an equally irritated glare over his shoulder at the Detective of the East. "I don't see why we all have to suffer just because criminals appear wherever you go."

Shinichi glared. "Like you don't run into your fair share of crime scenes."

"Certainly not as often as you do."

"Oh come on," the fourth and final member of their little traveling party piped up abruptly, cutting off any further argument. "What are you all complaining about? We're going on vacation! Or do you all really love to work that much?"

Hattori's baleful look transferred to the new speaker. "It's not the vacation part I'm complaining about."

"Oh?" Kuroba Kaito raised an eyebrow, a knowing smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Is it the location then? You should have said something sooner. I'm sure we could have found somewhere more to your liking."

"It's not the location," Hakuba droned from the driver's seat with a resigned sigh. "It's the company. No offense Kuroba, but if I had a choice I would not be spending Christmas trapped under the same roof as you."

In his seat, Hattori rolled his eyes and mouthed a 'better him than you' at the blonde which only Shinichi (and maybe Kaito) saw.

"You wound me," the magician exclaimed before a grin broke out across his face and he reached over to pull a startled Shinichi towards him. "But really, you two can leave any time you like. I won't stop you."

Shinichi frowned, making an attempt to dislodge Kaito's arm so that he could get back to sitting upright. The arm tightened and he sighed, opting instead to shift into a more comfortable position leaning against the magician and adjusting his seatbelt so it didn't feel like the car was trying to strangle him. "Why am I not included in the list of people who have a choice in this?"

"Because I have permission from Ran-chan and your parents to keep you for the duration of the holidays so we can all have a murder free vacation!"

"That makes no sense."

"Yes it does," the magician argued. "You can't say you haven't noticed people don't drop dead around you when we go out together. Everyone else has."

"But they fall from the sky when Hattori's around—"

"Oi!"

"—so we add Hakuba-san and there's probably going to be a murder when we get to this retreat anyway."

"Hmm, do you want to make a bet?"

Shinichi stared up into Kaito's grin, noting the mischievous, eager gleam in his dark, indigo eyes. "No."

"No one in their right mind would bet against you," Hattori grumbled, turning back to face forward again. "It just ain't fair."

"It's not my fault that Lady Luck favors me."

"Ugh, I still can't believe I let myself get talked into this," the Osakan groaned again. "Why is Kazuha doing this to me? I had all these places to go lined up and now I can't go to any of them!"

"Maybe because she was tired of running into murders every time she was trying to relax?" the blond detective drawled.

The Osakan rolled his eyes. "What, is that what Nakamori-chan told you?"

"Yes."

"When are the girls coming up anyway?" Shinichi interjected, feeling it was time to change the subject. He was really sick of listening to Hattori's griping. It had started shortly after they'd left his house in Beika that morning and hadn't let up for the last four hours. Truth be told he'd almost been looking forward to this getaway before he'd been subjected to the aforementioned four hours. "No one bothered to tell me." Which was kind of annoying, but his friends seemed to be doing that a lot these days. They made plans for him without his knowledge then always somehow managed to push and pull him into cooperating.

"Aoko said they're picking up Ran-chan from the airport on the twenty second and they'll all be up by Christmas Eve," Kaito supplied.

"The twenty second? Ran told me she was coming back on the twentieth . . ."

"I believe it has something to do with the fact that she managed to convince her mother to join her and Mouri-san on their vacation."

Shinichi blinked in surprise. "Really? That's . . .interesting." Privately he rather thought that was a formula more likely to lead to the Mouris early return, but he wished Ran luck anyway. Maybe this time she'd actually manage to coax her parents onto speaking terms. Stranger things had happened.

The rental house they had secured for the holidays sat near a lake along with a handful of other similar establishments. Each house was set far enough apart to give the illusion of privacy while being close enough together for their occupants to socialize should they so desire with those living in the other houses. It was a beautiful place really, with the only real down point being the lack of any shops nearby, meaning that any groceries that were needed had to be brought along or purchased in the town several hours' drive away.

The four vacationers pulled up in front of the neat little western style house with two floors and a front porch. Gravel crunched beneath the tires as the car came to a stop. Hakuba double-checked to make sure they had the correct address before taking the house keys from the glove compartment and getting out of the car followed shortly by his companions. He'd only just opened the door to the trunk when there was an explosion of white feathers and a stream of doves came pouring out from inside said trunk. He leapt back in surprise, slipped on the loose gravel, and landed hard on his rear.

"Kuroba!" he shouted, shooting Kaito a venomous glare which was redirected to Heiji when the Osakan burst out laughing. Shinichi sighed and moved to offer the blonde a hand up.

"Oops, I guess I should have mentioned I brought my doves. They were putting up a fuss about being left behind you see," the culprit said brightly, inclining his head in mock apology only to receive another glare. Poor Hakuba . . .not. Kaito grinned. He was so going to enjoy this Christmas.

X

Shinichi was starting to think that this whole venture had been a really bad idea. Well, actually he'd guessed it might be a bad idea when he'd first been informed that it was happening (because of course he hadn't been asked), but it was only now that he was really understanding how terrible it could be. Hakuba and Hattori, never on the best of terms to begin with, couldn't seem to resist making a go at each other at least once every few hours. They argued about everything from who would get which room to who was going to do which chores to what they were going to eat and so on and so forth. And Kaito only made it worse by egging them on in turn. The magician seemed to be deriving great enjoyment out of watching them fight over pointless things. The only upside to the situation was that no one had died. They'd checked the whole house over carefully and found no signs of a body anywhere.

Shinichi was honestly surprised by that. Which, he supposed, was just an argument in favor of this whole idea.

Heiji and Hakuba were still arguing over who should be allowed to use the bathroom first when Shinichi shut the door on their voices and collapsed bonelessly onto the bed. Once there he grabbed a pillow and tried to smother all sound with it as he groaned. The mattress shifted and an arm pulled him back against a familiar, solid warmth. The pillow was gently extracted from his grasp and tucked under his head.

"Do you really dislike being here that much?"

Shinichi blinked at the slightly forlorn note in the magician's voice before squirming around so he could look the other in the eyes. "No, it's not that I don't like being here. I'm just—tired of listening to them."

His statement was emphasized by a loud crash and muffled shouting. If he had to make a guess, he'd say someone must have knocked over someone else's stuff.

Kaito chuckled at that. "If you want, I'm sure I could find a way to make them be quiet."

It was a sign of how tired he was that Shinichi seriously considered taking the magician up on the offer. But for the sake of the slim sliver of hope that this vacation might still be peaceful, he shook his head. Besides, he didn't really want to get up in the morning to find his fellow detectives bound in their respective rooms with their mouths duct-taped shut or something else along those veins. It would only make things worse in the long run.

"Well, if you change your mind, just let me know."

"Maybe if they're still at it tomorrow night . . .and if we ever do this again we're renting a separate house," he grumbled, letting his eyes slide shut as they'd been wanting to do all evening and relaxing for what felt like the first time in forever. "G'night . . ."

Kaito smiled; a much softer expression than his usual manic grin. "Good night."


	2. Day 2: How They Did Not Go Fishing

Being woken by a storm of curses was not how Shinichi had envisioned the start of his day, but it was happening regardless of his thoughts on the matter and he supposed that as the only person who apparently still had his senses (Heiji he understood, but really, he'd expected better from Hakuba) he should go see what the problem was. This, however, was easier said than done. It took him fifteen minutes to wiggle and pry his way out of Kaito's grip (he was sure the magician was making it hard on purpose, light sleeper that he was, but he seemed determined to pretend he was still sleeping. At least he eventually relented and let go) and stumble to the door. The volume of his dark-skinned friend's complaints tripled as soon as the door was open and he winced.

"What's going on?" he demanded, staring blankly at Heiji who was standing in the middle of the hallway in a bathrobe, dripping wet and livid, facing a neatly groomed but clearly irritated Hakuba. Really, Shinichi had no desire to know what they were arguing about now, but he felt a bit obliged to find out.

"This ahou used up all the hot water!" Heiji huffed, leveling an accusing finger at the blonde.

Hakuba rolled his eyes. "As I have already explained, I had to scrub down the tub—which you obviously weren't going to do. It's called hygiene."

"Well you still could've told me before I went in!"

"You didn't ask."

"This is stupid," Shinichi cut in before things could degenerate further. "Hattori, just wait ten minutes or something. Yelling isn't going to make the water hot." He glared at the Osakan when his mouth began to open and it shut with a click. Satisfied, Shinichi headed for the stairs in search of coffee. As he went he grumbled, "I should've said yes . . ."

Behind him, Heiji traded puzzled looks with Hakuba. "What do you think he's talking about?"

Shinichi wasn't particularly surprised when he got downstairs to find Kaito already in the kitchen despite the fact that the magician hadn't passed him in the hall. Cereal and milk had been set out on the table along with some empty bowls, but what really chased away the irritation of the morning's wakeup call was the large mug of coffee Kaito handed to him. A grateful smile broke out across his face and he leaned up to give the magician a quick kiss in thanks before sinking happily into a chair where, for a few heavenly moments, his world was just him and his coffee (and the sound of Kaito's quiet chuckle).

The peace lasted for a grand total of two minutes and thirteen seconds.

That was when Hakuba came barreling down the stairs. "Kuroba! What did you put in this?" he demanded, brandishing a bottle. He was waving it around so quickly that it took Shinichi several seconds to identify it as a shampoo bottle. His eyes automatically moved on to focus on Hakuba's hair.

He hadn't noticed earlier when he'd been half asleep, but now that he knew what he was looking for he realized that Hakuba's hair had acquired a green sheen at some point between the previous night and now.

"It's interesting, isn't it," Kaito commented to Shinichi, waving towards the hair in question like it was some kind of exotic specimen. "Really adds a nice finish."

Seeing that he wasn't going to get any answers, Hakuba pinched the bridge of his nose and turned to disappear into the adjacent living room.

Shinichi watched him go with some surprise. "He took that rather well . . ."

"Hmm, maybe it's because his hair's still technically blond this time? The green hue is a bit harder to see than I thought it'd be. Guess I should've gone with red after all."

It wasn't long after that that Hattori came downstairs. A hot shower had put him in a much better mood and he was whistling as he settled himself at the table, setting aside the equipment he'd been carrying and greeting both Shinichi and Kaito with good cheer. Shinichi returned the greeting amiably, but Kaito didn't.

"What is that?" the magician asked flatly.

The Osakan blinked, taken aback by his tone and glancing from him to the stuff he'd just laid aside to Shinichi and back again. "Fishing poles . . .? I brought them since I heard this place was by a lake and someone left us some flyers about it. Apparently there's a really good fishing spot on the east side. I thought we could go check it out."

"That sounds like an excellent idea." Hakuba, who had appeared in the doorway between the kitchen and the livigng room smiled a rather vengeful smile. "We might even be able to catch ourselves lunch in the process." This earned him a peculiar look from the Osakan which he ignored.

"But Hattori only brought two fishing poles," Shinichi pointed out in an attempt to diffuse the trouble he could just see brewing. Beside him, he could sense Kaito perking up. "So what if you two went and Kaito and I can finish getting everything we brought arranged?"

"Aw, but that wouldn't be fair to you guys," Heiji persisted, missing Kaito's covert glare. Shinichi wondered if he should warn Heiji that he was digging himself a hole, but it was probably too late. "I was thinking we could rent the extra poles. One of the places on the flyers offers a pretty good price. Got good rates for dry and live bait too."

This time it was Shinichi's turn to grimace. Sticking hooks through tiny, living creatures wasn't his idea of a pleasant activity either. "No live bait."

"We can figure out the details once we get there," his dark-skinned friend agreed amiably.

Twenty minutes later they were heading outside with Kaito dragging his feet and burning holes through the backs of Heiji and Hakuba's heads alternatively. Shinichi moved to walk beside him. Kaito, being the master actor that he was, only exhibited his displeasure when he wanted people to notice. But Heiji didn't have eyes in the back of his head and Hakuba was busy relishing the fact that he was damned sure any time spent fishing would be blessedly Kuroba-free.

"I don't think they'll catch anything," Shinichi noted, trying to lighten his partner's increasingly sour mood. Bad things tended to happen to people when Kaito was upset (worse things than when he was bored, and that was saying something). "Fish usually feed at daybreak and we're well past that now."

The magician glanced at him, his expression softening momentarily before morphing into his usual Poker Face grin. But Shinichi could see the spark of mischief that had lighted in his indigo eyes.

"You should have more faith in our friends Shin-chan," he declared. "I'm sure they'll catch lots of things."

Things, Shinichi noted. Things could mean any number of, well, things and if Kaito was smiling at the thought those things didn't have any fins on.

He was distracted from wondering what the magician had up his sleeves when they got outside to be met by a sprawling expanse of flawless white. His breath caught for a moment and he stopped in the open doorway to simply stare for a while. Snow had covered everything, each flake glittering under the sun's gentle touch, making everything look soft and pristine.

Arms slid around his waist from behind and Kaito leaned forward to murmur into his ear. "It's beautiful isn't it? Guess it snowed last night."

Shinichi hummed in agreement, leaning back into the embrace. "Almost like it isn't real."

His companion chuckled. "I guess that's Mother Nature for you. The greatest artist the world will ever know."

"Aw man, the car's practically been buried!" Hattori cried out and the tranquility of the moment broke into a million pieces. "This is just great. Now we gotta spend time digging it out."

"I saw some shovels under the porch bench," Hakuba sighed, reaching under said bench and coming up with four shovels. "It seems the landlords were prepared."

"This is just great," the Osakan grumbled as he trudged back to the porch to receive a shovel. "At this rate it'll be ages before we get there. Oi, aren't you two going to help?"

"Hmm, I don't know," Kaito replied, making no move to let go of Shinichi and help excavate the driveway. "I kind of like it right here."

Heiji spluttered and Shinichi sighed. "You know, Kaito, if we don't clear the driveway now it'll only get worse later when it snows again."

The magician sighed. "Fine. But only for you." He turned the detective around and gave him a quick kiss before grabbing the remaining shovels and handing one to the now blushing Shinichi.

It took almost two hours to extract the car and clear the driveway of snow. When they had finally finished they stowed the well-used shovels back under the bench. Heiji recollected his fishing poles from where they'd been abandoned on the porch and placed them in the trunk before tossing the car keys to Hakuba (he had declared at the beginning of their trip that he refused to ride in a car driven by any of the other three: Kuroba because he didn't trust him, Kudo because he'd heard horror stories from Ran about Kudo Yukiko's driving and she had taught her son the skill, and Hattori because he could be careless). But when the car door opened Hakuba discovered there was already someone in the driver's seat. Three small, white, feathery someones in fact.

He stared at them. Three pairs of beady, black eyes stared back.

"Kuroba! Why are your doves in the car?"

Kaito shrugged. "I don't know. Ask them."

The blonde scowled and waved a hand at the animals in an attempt to shoo them away.

"You might not want to do that," Kaito said, but it was too late.

The birds took off, but three more doves appeared to take their place the moment they had departed. One of the original trio darted out of the car and flew over to land on top of Shinichi's head, informing him that it was probably the same dove he'd rescued back when he'd still been Conan. That particular dove had developed a habit of making itself comfortable in his hair whenever it had the opportunity. Its two cohorts however chose instead to take up residence one on each of Hakuba's shoulders. Where they promptly relieved themselves on his jacket.

"I did warn you."

The blonde closed his eyes for a moment, probably counting to ten, then spun on his heels and headed back for the house without a word. The two doves responsible took off and flew to their master who produced a grape for each of them before sending them flying up to the window Shinichi knew led to their room.

"Did you train them to do that?" he asked incredulously.

"Let's just say those two have always had quite the sense of humor."

Heiji watched the departing doves for a moment then shook his head, for once feeling rather sympathetic towards the British detective. And despite himself he was slightly impressed that Hakuba hadn't blown a fuse. He certainly would have.

"Maybe we should just walk down to the lake," he suggested when the blonde returned with a different jacket. Hakuba took a look at the three doves still occupying the driver's seat and nodded. Turning, he started onto the snow covered slopes leading down towards the shore.

The others traded glances before following suite. Heiji took the fishing poles back out of the car before running to catch up. Halfway there he had to stop to retie his boots. Catching sight of him, Kaito paused then grinned and scooped up a handful of snow. A split second later a snowball nailed Heiji in the top of the head. The Osakan let out a yelp and jerked upright with a scowl. He saw Kaito and his eyes narrowed as he stooped, fishing poles forgotten, and gathered up his own snowy projectile.

It soared through the air at the magician's grinning face, but Kaito slid easily out of its flight path, pulling Shinichi with him. Instead the snowball found its new home on the back of Hakuba's neck.

The blonde froze before turning around slowly. His eyes landed on Kaito first out of reflex before they found Hattori—who still had his arm half raised from the throw.

It went downhill from there.

"Do you think they're having fun?" Shinichi asked dubiously, watching as several well aimed snowballs from Hakuba dislodged the snow from the lower branches of a tree. The entire load poured down right onto Hattori's head. He'd never seen a snowball fight being conducted with such seriousness before. Indeed, it was starting to look like a war out there (he and Kaito had retreated back into the house, him to avoid getting dragged into the fray and Kaito to enjoy the show from the living room window with a video camera. He had the distinct feeling that the only reason the magician hadn't gotten the popcorn yet was that they hadn't thought to pack any).

"Not sure," Kaito mused as he set up his video camera on a miniature tripod for the best angle possible. "But they'll probably be at it for a while."

Shinichi made a face at that. "Maybe we should stop them. I don't want to end up having to send someone to the hospital because they got carried away."

"Nah, they know better than that. I say we let them be. That way, we get the house all to ourselves." He grinned and pounced on his now furiously blushing detective. It was nice when things worked out his way (and they always did, because he wasn't just lucky—no, he knew how to make his own luck too for those rare moments the Lady looked away).


	3. Day 3: Gingerbread Craze

It was the first day Shinichi had gotten to sleep in. He should have known there was a reason for that, but he'd been far too pleased by his good fortune at the time to care. Hakuba had locked himself in his room to read (though what good he thought such a simple lock would be in present company no one knew), and the sound of running water indicated that Heiji had gotten first dibs on the shower this morning. He vaguely remembered Kaito saying something about a gingerbread house, but the important thing there was that he also remembered the magician saying he didn't have to help make it.

Now he thought he should have gotten up to keep an eye on things.

When Kaito decided to make a gingerbread house, he meant it.

Literally.

"Where did you find gum drops the size of paving stones?" Shinichi demanded, eyes fixed on the massive candy pieces. He wasn't sure 'pieces' was even the right word anymore.

"Or an oven big enough to bake gingerbread slices large enough to be walls?" Heiji added, eyes practically bugging out of his head. He'd thought at first that maybe the magician had baked gingerbread bricks, but no, the walls were single slabs.

"Do you have any idea how many ants we're going to have here by tomorrow?" Hakuba groaned, closing his eyes in an attempt to pretend the monstrosity of a building didn't exist. Pity it only worked while his eyes remained shut.

Kaito just laughed. "We could always eat it."

"Kaito," Shinichi said slowly, looking from the magician to his creation and back again. "It's a house. You're asking us to eat a house."

"A gingerbread house," Kaito pointed out helpfully. "It is edible."

"That," the British detective said dryly, "is so not the point."

"I beg to differ. We wouldn't want it all to go to waste now, would we?"

" . . ."

"So who wants to be the gingerbread man?"

The detectives stared at him, looked at each other, then set off running in three different directions. A moment later there was a twang and a cry of surprise.

"Ah, Hattori-kun! So kind of you to volunteer~! Don't worry, you can eat the suit when I'm done taking pictures!"

"Kudo! Get your crazy boyfriend away from me!"

"And then I guess we can chop up the house and go pass out the pieces. I'm sure someone will appreciate all my hard work."

Hidden behind a screen of trees, Hakuba covered his face with his hands. "This is a nightmare, this is a nightmare, this is a nightmare—"

"Um, Hakuba-san?" Shinichi asked hesitantly. His companion looked a bit like he was losing it.

"What?"

"You have icing all over your shoes."

X

The two escapees stayed in hiding for about an hour listening to Hattori's cries of protest. It took about that long for Kaito to decide that what he really needed for his gingerbread photo gallery wasn't a gingerbread man—no, what he really wanted was gingerbread men.

Hakuba fell into the next trap and Shinichi was very, very grateful for this, even if thinking it made him feel a tad bit guilty. Because, for the sake of variety and a more homely feel, the second gingerbread man was a gingerbread woman. He would remember Hakuba's very creative English curses for a long time to come.

At least Kaito was having fun.

X

"God I smell like a bakery," Hattori groaned as he slumped into a chair at the kitchen table after spending over an hour in the shower.

"More like a cavity waiting to happen," Hakuba said dryly from the next seat over. His own hot shower had lightened his mood, if only slightly, but he was still sending Kaito evil looks across the table. Shinichi had the distinct impression that he would have liked very much to strangle the magician if he wasn't exhausted from the two hours he'd spent earlier trying and failing to do just that. As it was he had apparently decided to spend what was left of the evening ignoring everyone except (surprisingly) Heiji. It seemed their shared humiliation had softened his attitude towards the Osakan detective.

"No one appreciates my art!" The magician heaved a melodramatic sigh, pulling on a tragic face that would have fooled anyone who didn't know him.

"The kids in the other houses certainly appreciated the treat," Shinichi pointed out. "Though I'm not sure their parents are going to thank you when all that sugar hits home."

"Ah well . . . It was interesting though."

Shinichi couldn't stop the snort of laughter as his fellow detectives' expressions darkened even further. "That it was. I don't think I'll ever be able to forget that gingerbread house of yours."

"I do so love to be memorable."

There was a bang as Heiji's head landed face-down on the table. "This is all your fault Kudo."

Shinichi blinked at that. "Excuse me? I had nothing to do with any of this."

His friend turned his head just enough to glare at him with one, baleful eye. "You're the one that attracts all the crazy people."

"Then what does that make you?"

The Osakan considered the question for a moment before answering. "The guy who's gonna go crazy soon."

"I think maybe the gingerbread people were a bit extreme," Shinichi said later when he and Kaito had retired to bed.

"Aww, but it was funny~."

" . . ."

"Does that mean you liked the house though?"

"It was an interesting idea, I guess . . . Kind of made me think of that old fairytale with the witch who ate children."

"Hmm, you know, that didn't even cross my mind. Though now that you mention it I guess it kind of does." He chuckled. "I can say with absolute certainty however that no one wanted to eat Tantei-han or Tantei-san."

"I should hope not. Cannibalism's something even I've never had to deal with. And I hope I never will," he added, shuddering at the very idea. There was gruesome, which he was unfortunately well acquainted with, and then there was Gruesome.

"Hmm, do you think I should put those photos online? They're far too amusing to keep to ourselves."

"Only if you want to make them want to kill you."

"They'd have to catch me first, and we all know how good they are at that."

"True, but last time you made them that angry, they wound up staking out my house. It was annoying."

"But it was fun sneaking in to spirit my princess out of the castle~."

Shinichi scowled. "Don't call me that."

Laughing, Kaito kissed him before reaching over to turn off the light. "It was still fun."


	4. Day 4: You Will Not be Forgotten

"Kazuha!" Heiji could be heard bellowing into his phone at six in the morning the day after the gingerbread house incident. "You've gotta come save me! It's a madhouse up here! No, I'm not just saying that! Do you have any idea what I had to go through yesterday? I'm never gonna be able to even look at gingerbread again for the rest of my life without feeling sick!"

That rousing declaration was followed by a moment of silence before the Osakan detective started to splutter in outrage. "She hung up on me!"

"You call Kazuha at six in the morning and expect her to want to talk to you?" Shinichi asked dryly. He'd come downstairs when the shouting had started to see what the matter was. Now he was wishing he'd just ignored it. Curse his inability to just leave well enough alone! He groaned, slumping over the kitchen table and praying that the coffee would be done soon. "Just one day of peace. Is that too much to ask?"

"What are you complaining about?" Hattori groused, dropping into the chair opposite him. "You aren't the one who ended up having to wear bakery products for nearly a whole freaking day."

"I wasn't the one who wanted to go fishing the other day either."

"What does that have to do with anything?" his friend demanded, honestly confused.

"The fish," Shinichi sighed, too tired to elaborate—and not feeling particularly obliged to either considering it was Hattori's fault he was up so early. Maybe he should just go back to bed . . . But nine chances to one suggested he'd be back down again in the next ten minutes so there wasn't much point.

Kaito chose that moment to breeze into the kitchen, looking far too chipper for the time of day—as usual. Spotting Shinichi, he strolled over and leaned down to peer with concern into the detective's slightly bleary eyes. "Shin-chan? Are you all right?"

"I will be if the coffeemaker's done . . .?" The bleary blue eye blinked hopefully.

The magician glanced around towards the machine in question. "Uh, Shin-chan . . .it's not plugged in . . ."

" . . . . . . . . ."

"Shin-chan? Shinichi!" Kaito leaned over and waved a hand in front of the detective's face. No response.

"I think you lost him," Hattori commented from where he was watching all the color slowly drain from his eastern counterpart's face.

"Aww, come on Shin-chan, it's not that bad. See, we can start it now and it'll be ready before you know . . .it."

"What now?" Hattori asked as the magician trailed off.

"It appears to be broken."

"What's going on here?" Hakuba asked as he walked into the kitchen to find both Kaito and Heiji turning the cabinets inside out. He stared at them for a moment before glancing to Shinichi whose expression now resembled that of someone whose best friend had died. " . . .And what's wrong with him?"

"We're looking to see if there's a spare coffeemaker before Kudo loses it," Heiji replied with his head still stuck inside the cupboard beneath the sink.

"I see." The blonde cast another look at Shinichi before walking over to the Osakan and leaning down so he could whisper into the cupboard. "This vacation house offers only one coffeemaker."

Heiji stopped rummaging through the contents of the cupboard and extracted himself, careful not to hit his head. "Well that's not good."

"We could go borrow one from one of the neighbors," Kaito suggested. "If I remember correctly all the houses should come with the same equipment."

"True," the British detective agreed. "However, if you would just take a look out the window, you will see that it is currently snowing quite hard."

"A substitute then," Heiji declared.

"Well, what we really want right now is something that contains caffeine, yes? I did bring some tea."

Kaito brightened suddenly. "I have something better. Hot chocolate! We can all have some."

"I would personally prefer tea."

"Well, the rest of us aren't weird that way. Hattori-kun, go heat up the milk, I'll go get the chocolate!"

Soon the entire house was filled with the sweet aroma of molten chocolate. Large mugs were unearthed from the shelves and cleaned before being filled to the brim with the milky brown liquid. Small, fluffy marshmallows were conjured out of somewhere and set afloat as a finishing touch.

"Perfect!" Picking up one of the mugs, Kaito approached his partner who was still in some kind of mourning state over the loss of his favorite beverage. "Come on Shin-chan, cheer up and try some of this. I promise you it'll make you feel better."

Shinichi eyed the mug glumly for several seconds before giving in to the coaxing and picking it up. Between coffee and chocolate he'd definitely go for the coffee, but chocolate was better than nothing.

X

The snowstorm was really a blessing in disguise. Trapped in the house as they were, they spent a remarkably uneventful few hours playing Monopoly with Shinichi rolling the dice for Kaito (because the others refused to play otherwise). Even without touching the dice Kaito somehow managed to dominate the game. It eventually devolved into a one-sided slaughter after which the magician owned the entire board.

"I know it's the goal of the game and all," Hattori grumbled as they cleaned up the pieces, "but I never thought it was actually possible."

"So what do you guys want to do next?" the magician in question inquired. "I have poker cards."

"No," three voices chorused.

"Your loss."

"Point," Hakuba grumbled.

"How about we watch a movie instead?" Heiji suggested. They spent the next half hour not agreeing on which movie to watch until finally Shinichi dumped all the DVDs into a paper bag and pulled one out at random.

"But before we watch anything you three are going to help me make lunch," he told them. He was feeling much better now than he had been that morning, but he was still a bit on the grumpy side from the Great Movie Debate and none of them dared argue even if Heiji complained the whole way to the kitchen that he was all thumbs when it came to cooking.

The rest of the day was spent lounging in the living room watching movies. Both Heiji and Hakuba kept shooting uneasy glances Kaito's way as neither of them could quite believe that the magician could sit still that long, but Kaito was quite content to just sit there with his arm around Shinichi who'd curled up to his side with the mug of hot tea he'd claimed after the chocolate.

X

Over all, Shinichi reflected, today hadn't been a bad day even if it had had a terrible start. Hakuba had offered to help with washing the dishes and Heiji and Kaito had straightened out the living room. The magician had vanished after that and none of them had heard a peep from him since. That was a little worrying so once the last dish was returned to its rightful home on the shelves he went in search of the missing Kaito.

He found him sitting at the writing desk in their room.

"What are you doing?" he asked curiously, wandering over to look over Kaito's shoulder. "It's not like you to be so quiet."

"I'm resurrecting the dead."

Shinichi stared.

The magician laughed. "I'm kidding!"

Shinichi let out a sigh of relief and relaxed. "Oh, okay . . .that's good. So what are you really doing then?"

"A different kind of resurrection," he claimed, waving a screwdriver under Shinichi's nose. "I'm fixing the coffeemaker."

The detective blinked. "You can do that?"

"Of course I can! I design and maintain all my own equipment, remember? Compared to that, this thing's like a two-piece puzzle."

The two-piece puzzle was currently strewn across the desk in what looked to Shinichi like two dozen pieces. "Did you really need to completely dismantle it?"

"Not really, but if I'm going to fix it I might as well improve it~!"


	5. Day 5: The Rules of the Game

"KUROBA!"

Shinichi groaned and tried to burrow deeper into the comfort of the blankets in a vain attempt to ignore Hakuba's outraged roar. A moment later the door to his and Kaito's room burst open so hard it bounced off the wall behind it and nearly smacked the blonde in the face as he came charging in. Storming to the bed, he grabbed the nearest protruding limb (since he was too angry to take the time to figure out which limb belonged to who) and yanked on it.

Shinichi let out a yelp of surprise as he fell off the bed.

"Hey!" he protested, echoed rather vehemently by Kaito who sat up to glare at the fuming intruder. He did not appreciate having his detective yanked out of his arms like that.

"You!" Hakuba exploded, letting go of the detective he'd accidently dumped on the floor and raising a fist at the magician. Annoyed at both the intrusion (especially at whatever awful early hour it was this time) and the manhandling, Shinichi took a moment to aim then kicked the source of his ire hard in the knee. Hakuba was cut off mid roar as his leg folded under him and he cracked his chin on the bed frame.

Standing, Shinichi straightened out his sleeping wear and glared down at the blonde now grimacing and rubbing his chin. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Kaito doing his valiant best to hold back laughter (though not his slightly vicious smirk). "Would you like to explain the reason for this rather rude intrusion?"

The question seemed to remind Hakuba of his earlier rage and he leveled an accusing finger towards the silently shaking magician. "Ask him."

Apparently that was as much as Hakuba could manage to say at the moment. Sighing, Shinichi glanced inquiringly at Kaito who shrugged. It was the shrug Shinichi knew said 'I do lots of things, which one would you like to hear about?'. He turned back to Hakuba, who had picked himself up off the floor by now.

"It might be easier if you just told us…?"

He got the distinct impression that Hakuba was mentally counting to one hundred. Then the blonde spun on his heels and marched stiffly out of the room. Shinichi stared after him for a moment before letting out yet another sigh and glancing back at Kaito.

Who was nowhere to be seen.

"Come on Shin-chan, we wouldn't want to keep him waiting," the magician's voice said right into his ear. He jumped and nearly slipped when his foot landed on one of the corners of the blanket that had trailed onto the floor. Kaito wrapped an arm around him to steady him (which was when Shinichi noticed that both Kaito and himself were now dressed in day clothes. It was kind of mortifying that he hadn't even noticed when it had happened but he was trying not to think too hard about that). "Careful."

They entered the hall to see Hakuba standing by the open door to his room. He marched inside as soon as he saw them and they followed. The British detective's room was extremely neat. The man himself was standing beside the closet which he'd flung open for all the world to see. It took only about the fraction of a heartbeat to realize why he was so mad.

All the clothes in the British detective's wardrobe had mysteriously (or not so mysteriously considering present company) become blinding shades of yellow, orange, pink, or purple.

"This is destruction of private property!" he snarled, brandishing one of the luridly colored garments at them like it was a weapon.

"Personally, I'd call it an act of charity," Kaito countered, completely unperturbed. "At least this way you won't look so boring."

The blonde stared at him at a loss for words, his cloth-y weapon dangling limply from his grasp. It was clear that there was a whole host of things he wanted to express. He just couldn't seem to find the words for them. The fact that the culprit was just standing there smirking at him probably wasn't helping. Shinichi noted with a touch of trepidation that the British detective's face seemed to be turning purple. Had he stopped breathing? Finally Hakuba let out a half strangled sound, whirled on his feet, and stormed towards the door.

"Uh, Hakuba-san?" Shinichi called after him, wondering if he maybe should call the police. Just to be safe, of course. His fellow detective looked ready to kill.

"I am going to acquire some garments I can wear," the blonde snapped without a backward glance.

Shinichi sighed and turned to give Kaito a reproachful look. "I hope you realize that if Hakuba ends up in an asylum one of these days it's going to be your fault."

"You don't have to worry about that. You see, the key is to drive him as close to crazy as possible without actually making him lose his mind."

Shinichi groaned. "Aoko-san really threw him to the wolves when she made him come out with us this time, didn't she?"

"Oh I wouldn't say that. I mean, I did say the goal was not actually to drive him crazy. I mean, he's like the annoying, nosy sibling you can make fun of but that you have to keep an eye on. Well, that and I do want Aoko to keep talking to me."

"…Yeah, somehow I doubt knowing that would make him feel any better. Don't you feel the least bit guilty?"

"Nope," came the unhesitating reply. "Should I? Besides," he added as an afterthought. "The color'll come out once he's washed them about three times each."

"…"

"Do you think he realizes that he's just left the house in his pajamas?"

"…I'm going to make some coffee."

Shinichi arrived in the kitchen to Hattori's attempt to make a hot breakfast. He was going to have nightmares about the contents of that pan for years to come.

"How do you survive?" he demanded, snatching the awful, awful sight from his friend's sheepish grasp and dumping the whole black mess into the trashcan. It landed with a clunk that said a lot about its consistency—none of it good.

"Uh, well, Mom always did the cooking when I was living at home," Heiji said a bit defensively.

"You're halfway through college now," Shinichi pointed out, voice desert dry. "You don't live at home anymore."

"Takeout?"

"I should've known. Ugh, do yourself a favor and go take some cooking classes. Here." He shoved the pan back into the Osakan's hands and pointed towards the sink. "See if you can clean that. We'll probably have to replace it if you can't. Do we have any more eggs or did you destroy them all?"

X

With all the snow that had fallen recently it was only natural that they eventually go skiing. Hakuba, who had returned shortly after lunchtime in an entirely new set of clothes, had joined them, albeit reluctantly. Shinichi suspected he'd only come to prove wrong Hattori's claim that not coming meant he couldn't ski. The two could really be juvenile sometimes. He was just surprised they hadn't degenerated to the yes-no level of argument yet. Then again, they were both too intelligent for that (he hoped).

Apparently the idea of going skiing had taken the fancy of quite a lot of people that day. The slopes were swarming with people and the lines for renting out equipment were so long that Shinichi had been sorely tempted to turn back when he saw them.

"No way Kudo," Heiji had declared, catching his arm before he could escape. "We didn't spend all that time digging the car out again just to go back because it's a little crowded."

"A little crowded?" Shinichi repeated, incredulous. "We're swimming in people. It's going to take hours just to get the equipment!"

"It wouldn't be any fun if we were the only people here," Kaito pointed out. "And look, they set up a food stand by the line too. We can eat while we wait."

The four university students did just that. It was surprising how quickly the time passed, especially once Kaito started pulling magic tricks. He had the entire line cheering and clapping in no time so that it probably took half again as long for them to get their equipment as it should have. At least no one could say it was boring. But then Hakuba had noticed that at some point in the show his hair had turned soda orange. The people working the rental had been in a great hurry to get them out of there after that.

Halfway up the very long ski lift Kaito decided that if he had to wait he might as well put the time to good use and take advantage of the fact that Shinichi literally had nowhere to go. The detective in question had been enjoying the view below and didn't see the gleam in his companion's eyes. Not that it would have helped if he had.

"K—Kaito!" he squeaked. "We're in public."

"Not really," the magician murmured against his neck. "We're above the public."

They almost missed getting off the lift. By then Shinichi was bright red and he studiously avoided looking at the two people who got off the lift behind them. He could feel their stares as he and Kaito joined Hattori and Hakuba, the former of whom was snickering.

Hakuba just raised an eyebrow. "Having fun?"

"Of course," Kaito replied airily. Shinichi just turned redder.

Hattori grinned and tapped Hakuba on the shoulder. "Hey Hakuba, wanna race?"

The blonde turned to him in mild surprise then smirked. "All right, why not."

"Confident are we?"

"Certainly. Considering the competition, I have little reason to be concerned."

Heiji scowled at that. "You think so do you? All right then, let's go. Oi, Kudo! Count down for us will you?"

Shinichi nodded and the two competitors lined themselves up right on the top of the slope. "Ready? Three…two…one, go!"

Both detectives launched themselves forward and went blasting down the slope, zipping past other skiers as they fought to speed up. Shinichi watched them go with growing concern. It was starting to look dangerous.

"They'll be fine," Kaito laughed, correctly interpreting the expression on his face. "They can't crash if they want to win after all."

"You could have left it at the first part."

"Then let's get down there and you can see for yourself."

They reached the bottom of the slope however to find that their companions had disappeared. A quick search revealed them to be in the center of a rapidly growing crowd of other skiers.

"What's going on here?" Shinichi asked as he and Kaito pushed their way through the crowds. To be totally honest he'd expected to find a murder scene at the center of the masses. What he found instead was two rather put-upon looking detectives being bombarded with excited questions being launched at them at a ratio of about a hundred and twenty one per second.

And of course the moment he realized this it was too late and a man in a crimson, wool hat spotted him and pointed so that everyone else would do the same. "Hey, you're Kudo Shinichi!"

And then all hell broke loose.

It took two hours, a lot of elbows, six surreptitious but well placed kicks, a lot of yelling, and two flash bombs for them to escape the clutches of the crowd. They found their hiding place in a less populated rest area near the easy slopes which were mostly occupied by tired parents seeking a good place to relax from which they could still watch their kids.

"If we ever do this again I'm asking Kaito for a disguise," Shinichi sighed, collapsing onto an open bench.

"I'm sure Kuroba'd have fun with that," Heiji huffed, slouching down beside him.

They both watched as Kaito went pelting by closely followed by an enraged Hakuba (all of whose clothes had been somehow turned inside out) who was swinging a ski pole at his head like it was a sword. Shinichi had never seen the usually level headed British detective lose it so completely before. Probably cumulative rage from everything that had happened so far through the week. Beside him Heiji began laughing (Shinichi had the impression that the Osakan would soon be the target of said aforementioned ski pole. That was just what he needed. The Duel of Ski Equipment).

He groaned, burying his face in his hands. "I need a vacation…"

"Hate to break it to you Kudo, but you're already on vacation."


	6. Day 6: The Vacation from the Vacation

It wasn't a sound that first touched his awareness that morning but a gentle motion. His sleep befuddled mind prodded at this fact for a moment in mild wonder. Was he still asleep? Because he was pretty sure beds didn't move. Then he noticed that, though he was comfortably warm, there seemed to be a chill breeze brushing across his face. The sensation was enough to drag him a bit further into wakefulness and he realized that the sensation of motion was there because he was being carried.

It had to be Kaito. If it had been anyone else he knew his instincts would've been pounding on his panic button by now (as any person's would if they went to sleep in a room and woke up in the arms of some stranger being taken who knew where). As it was, he recognized this feeling and the solid, comforting presence that was his partner.

Still, that didn't explain why the magician had apparently felt the need to extract him from the comforts of the bed at what his inner clock was telling him was an unholy hour.

Cracking an eye open, he peered up at the man in question. "Where are we going?"

Indigo eyes dropped to meet his briefly before returning to the path ahead. "You said you needed a break, right?"

"Oh…" So they were going somewhere that might offer a little more peace. "The sun's not up yet," he noted, looking blearily up at the gray sky overhead. Here and there he could see snow covered branches brushing against the sky. They appeared to be going uphill.

"I know."

He could hear the smile in Kaito's voice and would have asked what he had planned but he knew the magician wouldn't answer until he wanted to.

"I can walk you know…" he said instead, fighting back a yawn.

Kaito laughed, the bright, contented sound reverberating through them both. "Humor me. We're almost there."

"Mm." Turning his face into Kaito's shoulder, Shinichi closed his eyes. He was undeniably comfortable where he was and they were alone anyway.

He must have drifted off again because the next time he opened his eyes the sky was several shades paler and they had reached more level ground.

"We're here~! And just on time."

'Here' turned out to be a small, snowy plateau dotted with a handful of snow covered trees. On one side a forest climbed away up the mountainside. On the other the ground fell away, giving a breathtaking view of the world below.

Kaito let Shinichi down and turned him towards that expanse of far away land just as the sun peeked its head over the horizon. And below them snow covered hills stretched away in rolling fields of white drenched pink and gold by the rising sun.

X

Back at the vacation house Hakuba and Heiji sat across from each other in the kitchen.

"Sure is quiet this morning," the Osakan remarked after several long minutes of silence. His companion looked up briefly from the Sherlock Holmes short story collection he was reading, made a noise in the back of his throat that sounded rather pleased, and went back to reading.

Hattori let out an exasperated sigh. "You're as bad as Kudo! It's like you both go deaf once you start reading those damned things. Can't you guys put those books down for one measly second and actually hold a conversation?"

There was no response.

"Apparently not." He sighed, pushing his chair back and getting up. "I'm gonna go see what's on TV."

X

"You didn't actually walk all the way up here, did you? It would have taken way too much time."

"No," Kaito agreed amiably, scooping up some more snow and adding it to whatever he was turning over and over in his hands. "There's a parking lot at the bottom of the trail."

Shinichi nodded, leaning a little more into Kaito's side as he gazed out over the gleaming white stretches below. "I hope the house is still standing when we get back."

The magician chuckled. "Guess we'll just have to cross our fingers."

"What are you doing?" Turning slightly, Shinichi peered at the other's busy hands. They had started working shortly after they'd finished eating brunch.

Kaito didn't answer for a moment, caught up in whatever he was holding. Then he smiled and opened both hands, holding them up so that Shinichi would have a better view of what lay on them. It was a dove shaped entirely from snow. About the size of a real bird, it was both incredibly detailed and remarkably accurate.

"Wow… I didn't know snow could do that." Sitting up straight, the detective leaned closer to the sculpture. It seemed to stare back at him with one beady, snow white eye.

"Here." Moving carefully so as not to damage his creation, Kaito took one of Shinichi's hands and placed the dove on it. "Can you hold it for me for a moment?"

Shinichi nodded, lifting the beautifully crafted piece up for a better look. As he did so Kaito set to work again. Soon they were surrounded by a dozen different snow sculptures of doves in various positions. The crowning piece had its wings spread as though about to take flight, its snowy feathers so delicate looking that Shinichi didn't even dare breathe in its direction.

"I wish I had a camera," he said wistfully, his gaze trailing slowly over each and every snow bird. The one in his hand was starting to melt a little but when he asked if he should put it down Kaito had insisted he hang on to it.

The magician smiled, a soft smile people rarely saw, and held the last dove up so that the sun's light shone through its wings, making them glow. "Some things can't be caught on film Shin-chan. They're not meant to be. Some things we just have to remember."

As the last word left his mouth the bird he was holding up shook itself, its wings spreading all the way out as flakes of snow fell away from it. Then it flapped those brilliant, white wings and was off.

Shinichi's jaw dropped but his attention was stolen an instant later by the feeling of something moving in his hands. Blue eyes dropped and he found himself looking at another dove, this one standing up on his hands and giving itself a shake before it too took to the air. Then all the snow sculpted doves were shedding snowflakes as they took to the air in a flurry of white feathers and icy flakes.

"That's…how did…"

Laughing lightly, the magician wrapped an arm around his waist and lifted his other arm to make a sweeping gesture taking in all of the world below. "Do you have to ask? It's magic, of course. It's always magic."

X

Shinichi wouldn't have been particularly surprised if they'd gotten back to find the house on fire. Not pleased, certainly, but not surprised either. What did surprise him however was that the house was in perfect order and utterly silent as he and Kaito stopped just inside the door.

"Maybe they went out?" he wondered aloud.

"We took the car though so they couldn't have gone far. Perhaps they decided to retire early?"

Curious, the two made a quick search of the house starting at the kitchen. It didn't take long. They found the two in the living room, locked in a fearsome battle of chess. They were so focused on their game in fact that neither so much as looked in their direction as Shinichi and Kaito peered in at them.

"Let's leave them to it," Kaito whispered with an amused smirk.

Shinichi nodded, and the two of them tiptoed up the stairs, content to have just a little more time to themselves.


	7. Day 7: And Then it was Over, Sort Of

Waking up to a kiss was a nice change. It was also rather surprising that when he opened his eyes he could see bright sunlight flooding in through the window. He'd been expecting pallid, predawn gray as per the trend of the week and his life in general. He blinked at the magician hovering over him.

"Good morning~," Kaito greeted him with a grin that was half a smirk before leaning down to kiss him again.

And of course that was when the door opened.

"Hey, you two up yet? The others'll be here soo—" Heiji cut himself off mid inquiry and turned dark red. "S—sorry, just, uh, cametotellyouthatthey'llbeheresoon." Message delivered he bolted from the room, jerking the door shut behind himself with a bang that rattled the frame.

Shinichi groaned, fighting and failing to hold back the color he knew was rising in his own face. "I thought the door was locked," he mumbled, horrified dismay still evident.

Kaito shrugged, making no move to get up. "Guess it wasn't."

Shinichi waited a moment then cleared his throat. "….Are you going to let me up?"

"Let me see…" The magician pulled on a thoughtful face and pretended to ponder the query for several seconds. "Nope. I don't think I want to."

"But Hattori said—"

"They're supposed to get here at one. That's still hours away."

Downstairs, Hakuba looked around from his place at the kitchen table when Hattori came crashing down the stairs.

"Are they still sleeping?" he asked, noting that the Osakan had come down alone.

Heiji turned even redder and coughed. "Uh, no, they're—busy. I think I'm gonna make myself a sandwich. Do you want one? You know what, I'll just go ahead and make a couple. Maybe the girls will want some when they get here."

Hakuba watched in bemused silence as the other detective yanked open the refrigerator door and stuck his head inside in the manner of an ostrich sticking its head in the ground. This behavior was odd even for Hattori (whom he was inclined to feel did a lot of illogical things), but it didn't take a genius to figure out what might have happened. Personally, Hakuba couldn't understand how Shinichi could survive Life with Kuroba (even if they did seem to understand each other, hard as it was to imagine anyone coming remotely close to being able to claim they understood Kuroba Kaito), but as long as it meant Kuroba occupied himself elsewhere he would be grateful. Picking up his mug, he poured himself another cup of tea.

X

When the sound of an engine coming up the driveway ceased and the doorbell rang, Hattori leapt from his seat like a man off hot coals and made a dive for the door. It opened to reveal Kazuha, Aoko, and Ran all dressed in winter coats and scarves.

"Kazuha!" the Oasakan detective exclaimed in what might have been considered joy if it hadn't also sounded like blissful relief. Kazuha looked slightly taken aback when she found herself the subject of a relieved hug not unlike the embrace of the stranded being rescued at last from certain doom. But, well, stranger things had happened, so she patted Heiji on the back and waited patiently for whatever fit had come over him to pass.

"What happened to him?" Aoko asked curiously as she and Ran edged around the pair in the doorway to venture rather warily farther into the bowels of the house. Hakuba, who had come to greet them with his mug still attached to his hand, coughed lightly.

"A lot has happened," he said a bit vaguely. "Would you like a sandwich?"

"I certainly wouldn't mind," Ran agreed.

"I'm pretty hungry too," Aoko admitted, smiling in thanks as Hakuba took her bag. "By the way, where's Kaito?" She'd been expecting to be bombarded by tricks the moment they walked through the door. It was just the way the magician said hello.

"He and Kudo-san are feeding the doves in the living room. If you will follow me, the kitchen is this way."

"The doves?" Aoko repeated before frowning and poking her head into the living room. Sure enough, Shinichi and Kaito were sitting on the couch surrounded by a flock of eagerly shuffling white birds. "Kaito! This vacation house doesn't allow pets! I know I told you that before you left!"

Both boys glanced up and the magician grinned. "Don't worry Aoko, no one will ever know they were here."

"That's not the point!"

"Come on Aoko," Ran said, peering over the other girl's shoulder and smiling at the sight of all the doves lined up on various pieces of furniture. They really were rather cute. It was hard to believe that so many birds could be so well behaved. "I'm sure it'll be fine. Besides, they've already been here six days. Making Kaito-kun send them home now wouldn't really change anything."

"I suppose you're right," Aoko sighed before shooting Kaito one last, irate glare. "But if we get charged extra because they find bird feathers everywhere when they inspect this place you're paying." Warning delivered, she retreated back to the kitchen.

Ran turned to follow her but paused for a moment to pull out her phone and snap a quick picture of the living room's many occupants. The dove sitting on top of Shinichi's head was a definite bonus. It was hilarious the way he'd been absently handing bits of food up to it throughout Aoko and Kaito's exchange but she refrained from bursting into laughter because she didn't want to scare the birds. But oh she was definitely sending a copy of this one to his parents.

By the time the doves had all been fed Heiji had also recollected his wits and all seven vacationers gathered in the kitchen.

"Did you guys see this yet?" Kazuha asked, holding up a flyer she'd found taped to the outside of the front door. "They're having a last minute Christmas tree sale not too far from here."

"Doesn't it seem a bit too last minute?" Heiji asked dubiously. "I mean, we wouldn't even have time to decorate it or anything."

"Nonsense," Kaito interjected. "It'll be a sad time indeed when seven people can't decorate one tree when they have a whole day to do it. I say we go get one."

"But what about ornaments? We didn't bring any," Shinichi pointed out. "And it really would take too long if we had to get the tree and drive all the way into town for decorations."

"We do have two cars," Ran replied. "Why don't we split into two groups? Half of us can go for the tree and the rest can go for decorations."

"I get the tree!" Kaito declared. "And Shin-chan's coming too."

Shinichi shot him a look at being volunteered but was ignored.

"Ornaments," both Hattori and Hakuba said in unison. They paused for a moment as they realized they had just volunteered to do something together when they didn't have to, but apparently the opportunity to get away from the magician was far too appealing to pass up.

The girls traded looks with raised eyebrows before Kazuha and Aoko announced that they'd go with their boyfriends "since someone with an eye for art should be there". No one needed to mention that they were also going along to make sure the tenuous truce the two detectives seemed to have come to lasted the duration of the venture. Or at least that the ornaments arrived in whole pieces.

X

"So how did the Parent Project go?" Shinichi asked as he and Ran trudged after Kaito into the yard where the trees were being sold.

To his surprise Ran actually smiled. "They were actually pretty civil all the way up to the last day. Of course then dad had to go and say something stupid but, well, it's been a while since they've spent so much time together without fighting. I think maybe they're finally coming around."

"That's—" Shinichi caught the 'unexpected' before it could escape his mouth, "good."

"Yep. And Eisuke met up with us the day before we left and Mom likes him."

Shinichi wondered if this was because her father didn't, but, well, he should probably keep that thought to himself too.

"What about you guys?" Ran asked suddenly. "Did anything interesting happen?"

"Well…" The last six days flashed before his eyes and he wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry at the sheer lunacy that was most of it. "I…guess you could call it interesting…"

"Kaito-kun said he had funny photos and some footage he was going to share later."

"Ah yes, that…"

Ran turned to give him a puzzled look but they were interrupted by the magician himself before she could ask any more questions.

"Hey, how about this one?"

Shinichi turned at Kaito's shout and looked up—and up and up some more. "Kaito, that one wouldn't even fit through the front door. And even if you did manage to squeeze it inside the ceiling would be too low for you to stand it up."

"Hmm, I guess that's true. Ah well, more's the pity. It would've made one hell of a Christmas tree!"

X

The Ornament Hunters trooped into the house nearly an hour and a half after Kaito, Shinichi, and Ran had gotten the Christmas tree set up in the living room. Paper crinkled as bags were dumped onto the floor in the middle of the room.

"Did you guys find anything good?" Kaito asked. Not waiting for an answer, he bounded over to the pile and began rooting through it.

Kazuha let out a disgruntled sigh. "Hakuba-san wanted all plain colored balls. But Heiji wanted to go with ornaments that had shapes instead of the traditional spheres. It took forever to get them to compromise and get the patterned balls. Have they been like this the whole week?"

Shinichi grimaced. "You have no idea."

"Hey, we're right here you know," Heiji grumbled, slouching onto the sofa. "You don't have to talk like we're not here."

Aoko picked up two boxes of ornaments and threw one at each of the disgruntled detectives. "Well, make yourselves useful then and start helping us with the tree."

"I'll get started on dinner," Ran announced, turning towards the kitchen. "Any requests?"

X

Overall, Shinichi mused, it had been a good Christmas Eve. With Ran as head chef dinner was spectacular, and even the tree decorating had gone well. There had been a bit of an argument when Kaito put the top hat on the angel (it looked an awful lot like a miniature of KID's, which Hakuba had been quick to notice), but they now had a beautifully dressed tree which glittered faintly with reflected firelight as the ornaments tried to outdo each other in their renditions of the hearth fire. Hot chocolate had been passed around and everyone had settled down to simply chat and catch up. Somewhere between the chocolate and the photos of the gingerbread incident (when they'd been developed, no one but Kaito would ever know), Kaito grabbed Shinichi and dragged him upstairs where he proceeded to climb out the window and up onto the roof.

"I don't think this roof was designed for people to climb around on top of it," Shinichi said a bit uneasily. The slope of said roof wasn't particularly steep, but it still gave him the disconcerting feeling that he was going to go sliding right off over the edge.

"It's fine," Kaito assured him, pulling Shinichi onto his lap where he sat near the highest point of the roof and wrapping his arms securely around his middle. "I won't let you fall. Now just relax and enjoy the show."

The detective relaxed despite himself. "Show?" he repeated curiously. "What—"

The rest of his question was drowned out by a deafening explosion. He stiffened and might have jumped if Kaito hadn't been holding onto him. The fact that the magician himself seemed totally unconcerned however assuaged his initial urge to duck for cover. Instead his gaze followed Kaito's upward as the night sky suddenly filled with colors.

"Fireworks," he breathed, staring up at the spectacular play of lights in awe. "When did you—"

"Shhh, stop asking questions for a moment and just watch," Kaito murmured into his ear. He could hear the magician's smile even if he couldn't see it. "Merry Christmas."


End file.
